Day: July 7, 2013

On the first day of George Zimmerman trial one of the defense attorneys thought he’d try to break up the tension in the room. He told a knock-knock joke.

Nobody laughed. The joke fell flat and nobody has tried to tell another joke since. Not until last week when the general sentiment was the prosecution was getting hammered by Mark O’ Mara and the rest of the defense team. Okay, things went pretty badly, but from some of the moaning and groaning over lead prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda occasionally faltering performance you might have been led to believe the jury not only had found Boy George “not guilty” they gave him a public service award for killing Trayvon Martin.

I haven’t watched the trial. Not a minute of it. This is a subject that hits too close to home. I admit I’m biased. I think Zimmerman racially profiled Trayvon and he killed him because some Black kid was where he shouldn’t be: in his neighborhood.

From most reports I’ve read some of the witnesses did a better job for the defense than the prosecution that called them to testify. The main offender was detective Chris Serino who may have sabotaged the trial.

Sanford Police Investigator Chris Serino, who interrogated Zimmerman, told the jury he concluded the defendant was either telling the truth or was a pathological liar. At that point lead defense attorney Mark O’Mara asked, “Do you think he was telling the truth?”

Prosecutors should have objected to the question, analysts said, but they remained silent.

“Yes,” Serino replied.

They objected the next day, when Judge Debra Nelson ruled witnesses were not supposed to comment on the credibility of other witnesses because it was the jury’s job to decide who to believe. She ordered the jury to ignore that exchange, which means it cannot be mentioned in closing arguments and they should not consider it during deliberations, but her ruling also called further attention to what Serino said

Bernie’s not-so-good, bad, horrible week.

While social media was having its evil fun beating up on Rachel Jeantel, the witness that may have done the greatest harm to the prosecution’s case was a cop with a big mouth while the prosecution sat there dumbly. From the beginning it was well-known the Sanford cop shop was sympathetic to Zimmerman. Maybe they hung out pounding donuts and shooting the breeze about the “fucking punks” that were ripping off everything that wasn’t nailed down in Boy George’s hood.

If things go shit side up, save some blame for Serino if his town starts burning to the ground.

Will there be a riot goin’ on in Sanford? I hope not, but if it does it will be because the legal system failed Trayvon and his family. I’m seeing a lot more pessimism and fatalism in my news feed over how the trial is going so far than optimism. Summer is here. Temperatures are rising. There’s people with blood in their eyes and they may not be in the mood for any more injustice.

I’ve already seen in my news feed some calling for Sanford to be burned to the ground if George Zimmerman goes free.

Don’t laugh. It might just work.

Some are predicting if Zimmerman isn’t convicted, we’re going to see a replay of the 1992 L.A. riots. The fury that set Los Angeles on fire is simmering on a low flame, but do not doubt that it is still there. Those that demanded justice for Trayvon allowed the system to take its sweet time in arresting Zimmerman when the Sanford cops and district attorney just turned palms up and shrugged their shoulders.

They have gritted their teeth and watched as Zimmerman gamed the system (remember Judge Nelson is the third judge appointed to the case) and suffered with quiet restraint as the legal team smeared Trayvon’s reputation with leaks about his school records and drug usage. Nobody threw a brick through any windows when Zimmerman set up a website to ask for funds for his defense and then scammed the suckers by using the money to pay off his credit cards.

Zimmerman’s wife, Shellie was charged with perjury after lying during a bond hearing about $135,000 the couple had concealed while claiming indigent. The rest of Zimmerman’s family is no prize either. Little brother Robert sent out some racist tweets, Mama Gladys penned a letter on the one-year anniversary of her sonny boy arrest saying it was done “solely to placate the masses” as she quite deliberately omitted any reference to the real victim, Trayvon Martin. Finally, Robert Sr., made his contribution by scribbling a whiny self-published e-book where he blamed practically every African-American in America as the “true racists.”

Nice family George is part of, but it does explain a lot about his attitudes. The Coreleones have nothing on the Zimmermans.

Why aren’t THEY laughing? Because nothing’s funny.

If Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, Trayvon’s parents, aren’t calling for rioting in the streets, NOBODY else should be either. There will be some asshole trying to stir things up, but I hope like hell everyone tunes those fools right out. A riot might seem like a perfectly sensible reaction to allowing a killer to go free, but it won’t help anything and it won’t change anything. It won’t get Zimmerman and it won’t bring Trayvon back, so what is accomplished but to make Black people look exactly like the savages the Zimmerman supporters say we are?

Vengeance is not ours. There are reasons to riot, but deluding yourself it will get justice for Trayvon Martin is not one of them.

If Zimmerman walks due to the ineptitude of the prosecution there will be those who see a “not guilty” verdict as proof the fix was in from the jump. They may have a point. There was a day in court where George Zimmerman smiled and laughed in response to what one witness said. I did not like that smile. Not one bit.

You know who hasn’t found a single thing to laugh about? Trayvon Martin’s parents.

I’m a realist, not an optimist. I hope for the best and expect the worst. That way when the best happens I’m pleasantly surprised and when the worst occurs, I’m never disappointed.

The trial is not over. There’s still chances to wipe that smile off of George Zimmerman’s ugly face.